1. Related Applications
There are no applications related hereto now filed in this or any foreign country.
2. Field of Invention
My invention relates generally to containment type insect traps and more particularly to such a trap for flies and an aqueous odoriferous attractant to be carried therein.
3. Description of Prior Art
Flies have long been a noxious pest and a danger to mankind and his property. By reason of this, many and various traps to remove the insects from the environs of humans have heretofore become known. The instant invention adds a new member to this class of device that entraps flies to aid their demise or containment for future disposition.
Fly traps heretofore known have apparently not been particularly concerned with the instinctive reaction or so called "psychology" of flies. Because of this the nature and combinations of their structures have been somewhat haphazard and oftentimes have not provided a means of maximum efficiency for catching flies, if in fact they even have been practical for this purpose. Because of this, and with the advent of better chemical pesticides, most flies in the recent past have been controlled and destroyed largely by pesticides. Many pesticides have become known and most quite effectively fulfill their purpose.
Many of these chemical pesticides, however, deleteriously affect the environment generally and oftentimes even human physiology. Because of this pesticides have been stringently controlled and many of the more effective pesticides have been banned entirely from general use. The fly population however remains, the need for its control becomes even greater, and again the fly trap is becoming a practical and desired means for controlling fly populations.
The instant invention provides a fly trap created in consideration of fly instinct to provide a containment type device of maximum efficiency with each of its individual elements created to accommodate particular desires and characteristics of flies and all of such elements effectively combined in a symbionic relationship that enhances their individual features. It is distinguished from the prior art at least in the aspects following.
My trap provides a translucent containment chamber covered in its upper part by an opaque cap defining entrance orifices extending downwardly into the containment chamber. The cap is colored in the range of yellow-green to yellow as this color range provides an optical attractant for flies. Entryways provide indented transition elements communicating with downwardly and inwardly extending entry tubes to accommodate a fly's normal motion pattern of approaching an object from above when in flight and moving in a downward direction when crawling. The opaque material from which the entrance orifices are formed further enhances the probability of fly entry into the entrapment chamber, because that chamber is formed of translucent material and will allow the passage of light therein to appear brighter to an entering fly then the passageway through which entrance is gained, since that passageway is formed of opaque material. This enhances the fly's general instinct of moving toward a light source or light area. The dimpled transition surface surrounding an entry tunnel accentuates and aids this activity by directing a fly in the right direction. Many prior art devices have provided some sort of bottom-type entry for insect traps and though such an entry accommodates the instinctual behavior of some insects, and particularly wasps and yellow jackets, it is adverse to the instinctual behavior of flies and is much less efficient in trapping flies than are the entryways of my device.
The efficiency of entryways in entrapping flies in containment type fly traps increases proportionately with the increase of angle of the access channel of the entryway from the horizontal, though few prior art fly traps, if any, have recognized this principle except possibly by accident. The entryways to the entrapment chamber of my trap provide truncated conics having smooth surfaces defining their lower orifices orientated at an acute angle to each other so that the lower orifice has a sharp edge. This structure increases the probability of a fly's remaining in the entrapment chamber once it gets there, because of fly instinct that is adverse to crawling over a sharp edge, no matter how that edge may be oriented. The structure further enhances this action because the orifice size limits the physical ability of the fly to move upwardly through an entry orifice with spread wings and the smooth, substantially vertical surfaces do not allow the insect to gain a foothold about the orifice to allow it to crawl over the lowermost edge in the first instance, even if it so desired.
The translucent nature of the structure defining the containment chamber also enhances the demise of flies within that chamber. The trap is designed primarily for outdoor use and when heat waves enter the containment chamber, they tend to reflect and refract from the inner surfaces defining that chamber to remain therein to create what is commonly known as the "greenhouse effect" which tends ultimately to raise the temperature in the containment chamber. The raised temperature enhances fly activity, stimulates fright and enhances escape excitement, all to more rapidly exhaust an entrapped fly and hasten its ultimate demise within the entrapment chamber. The translucent or transparent nature of the container also tends to enhance the attractive action of my trap as flies tend to be attracted to an area where other flies congregate, even though they are not a particularly social insect. This reaction apparently results by reason of a fly's associating the congregation of his brethern with presence of a food source and its desire to find that food source for its own imbibition.
An aqueous based attractant containing egg, milk and yeast in active fermentation is contained in the entrapment chamber. The mixture may contain bicarbonate of soda in warmer climates to retard fermentation for prolonged life of the attractant mixture. The odoriferous products of this fermentation reaction are especially attractive to flies and somewhat selectively so. Since the ordoriferous attractants from the fermentation process are generally heavier than the surrounding air, they tend to settle in and diffuse from trap entryways so that they are most concentrated in an entryway and form a bulbous concentration thereabout with a concentration gradient varying somewhat in ratio to distance from the entryway. With this form of attractant dispersement, flies instinctively proceed toward the greater concentration of the attractant, which is associated with proximity to a food source, and therefore to and through the entryways leading to the entrapment chamber. This particular attractant seems quite selective to flies and generally not too attractive to other insects. It provides a substantially higher probability of fly entrapment than entrapment of other types of insects, especially bees, which most probably are not desired to be entrapped.
The attractant serves a further purpose in aiding the demise of flies within the entrapment chamber. As flies become exhausted, they generally cease flying or move downwardly by reason of gravity or otherwise, become wetted and eventually drown in the attractant medium. The yeast may also produce carbon dioxide as a product of its metabolism and if so, this reduces oxygen content in the entrapment chamber and tends to aid asphyxiation of flies therein. This action further enhances the attractant as the fly bodies therein tend to putrefy in the aqueous attractant medium and this reaction seems to enhance the olfactory attracting potentially of the medium. The attractant is such that it may readily be admixed from components obtained by a user or might be readily supplied in dry form to be mixed with water at the time of use by a user. The attractant contains only simple ingredients which are generally not dangerous to humans or other animals and contains no poisonous substances as such.
The olfactory attractants for flies are generally noxious to humans and domestic animals to increase the probability that neither humans nor animals, no matter how unsophisticated, will become involved with the attractant.
Various of the individual features of my trap and attractant have become known heretofore, either deliberately or accidentally. My invention therefore resides not in any one of these individual features per se, but rather in the synergistic combination of all of them in the particular structure set forth to accomplish the functions necessarily flowing therefrom.